The Audubon Society just launched a social media campaign called Birding the Net. Basically they sent out a whole slew of "virtual birds" across the Internet -- to over 100 different sites, including AOL, Slate and Discovery Channel, to name a few. Visitors to those sites can be on the lookout for a virtual bird swooping across the scene, perching on mastheads and nesting in birdhouses that folks can install on their personal website or blog.

The whole campaign is tied in with the release of The Big Year, the upcoming birding comedy starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson.

This is a pretty cool idea. We may just have to "install" a birdhouse on our site to attract some of these virtual avian friends!